Fare Integration in Greater Toronto takes Giant Step Forward

After years of campaigning, analysis and u-turns (see our post of August 27, 2019), public transit in Greater Toronto will take a giant step forward on February 26, 2024 when Ontario launches its “One Fare” program.

Transit riders will only pay once when connecting between the TTC, GO Transit and 4 regional transit systems – Brampton Transit, Durham Region Transit, MiWay, and York Region Transit. There is already a zero co-fare policy between GO Transit and other transit agencies in the 905, like Hamilton or Burlington, as well as a zero co-fare policy between individual 905 agencies. Therefore this means that the one fare program applies across the entire Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. For example:

• Trip starts on TTC, transfers to GO, then transfers back to TTC or 905 agency. Pay only the GO fare. Transfer valid within 3 hours of start of GO trip
• Trip starts on YRT, transfers to TTC. Pay only the YRT fare. Transfers valid for 2 hours from start of YRT trip.

Passengers using credit or debit cards, including cards stored in digital wallets, will need to ensure they tap the same card for each segment of their journey to receive the co-fare discount.

This advance will remove major inequities such as at York University, where students from the 905 using local transit or GO buses were required to pay an additional TTC fare to travel 1 or 2 subway stops, or walk up to 15 minutes.

The program is expected to attract an additional 8 million riders per year, with an expected program cost is $90 million/year. This will be funded by Ontario and local systems will be reimbursed for foregone fare revenue.

The previous co-fare policy was introduced in 2018, providing a $1.50 discount on GO-TTC transfers, but this was ended in March 2020 because funding was not renewed by the provincial government.

Photo of Presto Card readers by Wylie Poon via Flickr